Russia put a GLONASS navigation module in Iranian Shahed-136
MOSCOW ($1=61.38 Russian Rubles) — Over the past few days, Russian armed forces have been attacking Ukrainian energy infrastructures using foreign equipment. It is about a series of Iranian Shahed-129 and Shahed-136 UAVs delivered by Tehran to Moscow.
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According to Russian sources, mainly from the Russian military-industrial complex, as claimed by Military Monitoring, GLONASS navigation modules have already been integrated into both versions of Iranian Shahed unmanned aerial vehicles. Such a claim strongly contradicts initial statements from Moscow that Russia is not using Iranian weapons systems.
The same sources claim that the reason for the integration of the navigation system is to improve the efficiency of drones by increasing their range. Initially, drones were used in real combat conditions in Ukraine. Then they showed a flaw – the very original inertial system of the aircraft. I.e. The Shahed-136s had a limited strike radius of nearly 550 km with a possible range of at least 2,500 km.
As Military Monitoring writes, with a similar radius and limited range, the Russian armed forces cannot use drones to hit targets at a long distance, but only at close range.
Earlier, BulgarianMilitary.com wrote that Iranian military personnel is located on the territory of Crimea. They are supposed to help Russian drone operators more quickly train on Iranian drones, which Russia has apparently acquired, despite denials. This information comes from Washington after a statement by White House NSC coordinator John Kirby.
Currently, the Shahed-136 is used by two countries: Iran and Russia, as well as by the Houthi movement in Yemen. This drone is manufactured by Iran’s HESA. According to unconfirmed information, the price range of one unit is between $20,000 and $50,000. Iran has not provided information on exactly how many drones of this model it has produced so far.
The Shahed-136 is powered by a single MD-550 piston engine. The maximum flight speed is in the range of 185 – 190 km/h. The drone is launched from a Rocket Assisted Take Off [RATO] type platform. The warhead in the drone weighs 40 kg. The drone weighs 200 kg and has a wingspan of 2.5 m.
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